Menteur
by LeelaLaFleur
Summary: What can you do when you're playing a genious manipulator? Easy, be smarter and always one step ahead! Durring his 5th year at Hogwarts Tom Riddle meets his equal, but there is something odd about her...
1. Prequel

Menteur: Prequel

April 25, 1944

I cup the torn material of my jeans in my hand and roughly press it down on my thigh in attempt to stop the bleeding. I bite my lip in pain when the damp fabric makes contact with the exposed injury.

My hands shiver and there doesn't seem to be enough air in my lungs. I pull my healthy leg as close to my chest as possible. This always used to calm me and make me feel warmer on the cold nights back in London, but not today. Maybe it's due to the fact that I'm sitting on a dark stone floor cover in icy water, injured, or maybe it's because deep inside I know that I'm not going to live to see another sunrise.

I can hear them coming closer with every second. I curse under my breath and think of my best friend. Where is he? After all, he IS the hero and I... I wasn't even supposed to be here… but yet all somehow seems to fit in. With a past like mine, I knew I wouldn't live long. I never had this disillusion of surviving and living happyly ever after, but now, when I'm so close to death, I can't help but feel scared and empty. Harry...

At the thought of my best friend, I look down at the object in my hand and suddenly I can breath again. A massive wave of energy washes over me as I realize; I have to protect Harry and others at any cost! I tighten my grip on the small octagonal object hanging loosely on a small chain around my neck. I would almost concider it beautiful, with its sleek and clear surface and petite aqua colored looking glass sitting tightly in the middle...almost...

They are here. I can hear their voices just behind the corner. Any second now they will spot me.

I give the cursed object one more quick look. They cannot find it! With one swift swing of my arm I tear it off of the chain and with another I toss the pegant into a dark corner to my left. I have no time to watch it disappear in the water, because the door fly open and they march in, following the blood trail right towards my hiding spot. I hold my breath…it's here. Three of them charge straight towards me, their wands ready to kill. I can only assume, who is who, since my vision is blured from the continuing bloodloss. One yells at the others as soon as he sees me and within the seconds they're all around me, waiting for their master.

Then he walks into my field of view. I feel sick pleasure, when I notice he looks just as bad as I do. His left arm is turned in unnatural maner and I can tell he's doing everything in his power not to cry in pain. His head is injured as well. The fairly large gap on his forehead, which almost completely mended this morning, is bleeding, staining his porcelain skin a sticking to his hair. His face is turned into a disturbing scowl. It's not like I've never seen him angry, but usually he at least tries to hide it. Now, his eyes are narrowed into two slits, reminding me of Slytherin serpent, and of my eminent destiny.

He stands just a couple of feet away from where I'm sitting; my own wand is in his hand pointed at me. I raise my head defiantly and say with the sweetest tone possible: "Bonjour"

I don't even bother to fake my accent anymore, I think they all know I lied. He bends down and reaches for my throat, searching for the small necklace. When he finds only the broken chain, he looks into my eyes with a look of confusion. That quickly changes to surprise and than to back to anger. I smile. He knows I'm mocking him.

I might have lost, but you know what they say; when you go, go with boom… just couple more minutes…

Read the 1st chapter and let me know what you think :) Review, Favorite and Follow :D


	2. 1 Everybody Knows

Menteur: Chapter 1: Everybody Knows

September 13, 2001

"So...ladies first!" announced Harry and stepped aside from the slime-covered rusty sewage's entrance. Hermione poked her head over his shoulder to get better view.

Her nose wrinkled in disgust when her eyes landed on the small dark opening. It was just big enough for them to crawl through, that is, if they got on all fours and tucked their heads.

"Oh, no. A gentleman should always go first, to make sure that it's safe for the lady to enter." she replied back with the sweetest smile she could manage. Harry rolled his eyes teasingly at his friend, but kneeled down anyway, and within next few seconds he disappeared in the darkness of the sewage.

"Coming?" Harry hollered from inside.

Hermione scanned the filthy ground in front of her and realized that she probably shouldn't have worn her favorite jeans. She sighed.

"Do I really have to?"

"Well..."started Harry, his voice echoing throughout the stone pipes, making it sound even more distant than it actually was. "If you know about some other way, you should have told me before I got in!" He chuckled lightly, but then continued in serious tone: "The main entrance is still caved in and I don't know of any other way to get in...Plus this seemed to work for the Basilisk just fine..."

"Alright, alright." Hermione raised her hands in surrender, even though Harry couldn't see, and after ending her lumos spell and pocketing her wand, she also crawled into the opening. To her horror, there were at least three inches of water on the floor and soon enough the legs of her jeans were completely soaked. She tried really hard not to growl, as she swiftly followed Harry through the labyrinth of sewers and pipelines.

After a couple minutes of dragging silence, disturbed only by their breathing and sounds of running water, Harry spoke up.

"I think we are almost there."

Due to the lack of any light and high noise distortion, Hermione did not realize how close he was until her face landed flat right on the Harry's behind. She angrily pushed him, or to be exact, his butt, forward to signal not only to continue their crawl but also her growing annoyance. This proved not to be the best idea, when a sharp shriek escaped Harry's lips and his body started to collapse in a sequence of maniacal movements. Hermione, who, in the impenetrable darkness, could only see her best friend's outline, grabbed the closest part of Harry's body, his ankle and before she knew it they were both speed-sliding down the steep slope of the sewer.

They hit the hard stone ground with a loud thump, The Boy Who Lived first and Hermione right on top of him.

"What the hell?" breathed out frightened Hermione, first quickly checking herself for any broken bones or cuts and then moving her full attention to the surroundings. They were, indeed, at the right place. Despite its most fearsome monster being gone, it was still the same dark miserable place; the Chamber of Secrets. Mostly it was just as she remembered, the stone walls covered in the lightest layer of green fungus giving it an emerald tint, the snake-decorated slopes framing the way to the back of the room, where the crown piece stood. The statue of Salazar Slytherin has seen better days, Hermione noted. Almost entire top left half was missing, probably being knocked off by the caved-in ceiling and there was a deep crack reaching from Salazar's mouth, across his cheek, all the way up to his bottom eyelid. Only real change in the chamber, outside of the aging damage, was the lack of water on the floor. It wasn't surprising, considering that Hogwarts has been shut for merely four years now, and so there was no water running through the sewers, therefore there was no chance of it leaking into the underground chamber, and the leftover of moisture was not enough to flood the floor like it used to be.

"Mbphmm.." sounded from underneath Hermione. She carefully pulled herself off of Harry's flattened form, feeling little guilty for not realizing she's been slowly suffocating him with her weight sitting almost exclusively on his torso.

"What?" she asked as soon as he caught his breath.

"I said," Harry sucked some air in: "why did you push me down that sewer?" He repeated his question calmly.

"I couldn't see. You stopped without warning." defended her choice Hermione.

Harry's right brow disappeared in his hair in a mocking manner: "So you pushed me? Just like that?" He asked like he was seriously questioning her sanity and/or intelligence. Hermione herself understood the banality of this argument and decided to cut it short.

"Whatever..." she rolled her eyes, but then continued in all seriousness: "Maybe we should stay here for the night." Harry's smile vanished as well and he nodded.

"Yeah, we can start searching tomorrow. Let's just check for any dark charms there might be here...I mean, you can never be sure..." Harry wondered off slowly and pulled out his wand. Hermione simply mirrored his action and they both headed to the opposite corners of the chamber, mumbling different spells trying to detect any possible magic traps. Curly haired witch walked slowly with her wand clutched firmly in her outstretched hand. The dim white light of her Videros charm was illuminating the wall to her left and her eyes were watching attentively to any change in the coloring of the light; a.k.a. the easiest way to tell change in magical field around her. She was almost past the Salazar's statue, when the wand flickered gold. Hermione paused abruptly, trying to make as little movement as possible, and stretched her wanded arm closer to the statue pointing it directly at Salazar's nose. But nothing happened. The gold glow was gone. She reached out and traced the marble surface of the statue. Still there were no signs of magic. She was about to give up when her wand lit up again. It was near the ground at the edge of ancient wizard's beard, the small corner she just passed, considering it an unlikely trap place since no one would probably ever go there. Hermione carefully took two steps towards the place. Her wand glow again. She held her breath in anticipation. It was obvious the statue was not the source of the foreign magic, but what else then? It seemed to be coming from behind the statue. Hermione frowned. She had no clue what could it be. There was almost no space before the back side of the marble head connected to the wall behind it. She took another step to get closer look at the dark space, her wand illuminating the place. Yes, there definitely was something in the corner behind the statue. On the floor. She leaned forward and...

"Aaaaghh!"

Skeleton! It was a skeleton! No, it was more of a corpse! Hermione stared at it wide eyed and completely unable to move. This person, or what was left of it, was curled up in the sitting position in the darkness of Salazar's head. Its arms were curled tightly around itself and the skull, with some loose locks of grayish hair still attached to it, was turned upwards in an unnatural way. It looked almost in pain.

"Herm-" started Harry, who just reached Hermione, but he stopped dead in his tracks as soon as the corpse came to his view. He wrapped his arm around Hermione to calm her down, although his eyes haven't left the dead body a single time.

"Who do you think it is?" she asked quietly, coming back to her senses. For the first time in what seemed like hours Harry moved his sight onto his companion. Neither of them had any answers to that. Hermione's eyes slipped back to the unknown and then onto the floor in front of it, where her wand lied. She did not even know she dropped it. No matter how many people she saw die, she will never get used to it...

She reached down for her wand and thoughtfully casted Videros again. To her surprise, the light emitted by her wand was pale white; no trace of other magic found. She frowned. She was almost positive she has found something. With an indecisive look she turned to Harry and stated in a heavy tone: "Well, it's nothing I guess..."

Harry gave her a curt nod of approval and walked back to the middle of the room, where they have left their bags. Hermione glanced at the skeleton. It would also be the last time, if the small silver thing did not catch her eye. It was some sort of a silver chain hanging off of the person's collar bone. It was torn down the middle, the pendant missing. Hermione looked around if she can spot it, but it was nowhere to be found. Another thing she noticed was that her left femus was practically crushed in one place and her pelvis heavily damaged...yes, Hermione was pretty sure the corpse use to be a female...The young witch couldn't ignore the signs of fight on the body. But what was she fighting? Basilisk, perhaps. But what's with the necklace? Hermione highly doubted that the vicious snake monster would be interested in jewelry. How long has she been here? Did she die fighting or hiding?

Her thought stream was interrupted by Harry calling her name. 'I'm getting oversensitive' thought Hermione, stood up and joined him by their packs. It was time to finish searching for dark spells and set up the camp.

"It's all in Dippet's journal." explained Harry his assumptions as they were lying in their sleeping bags on the floor of the chamber.

"I have a page of it." he added and to support his cause, pulled a piece of folded parchment out of his pockets. Hermione listened silently, taking all the information in.

"Dippet wrote all about Voldemort, when he was still in school." he said, but Hermione only rewarded him with a very skeptical look. She wasn't sure, where is her friend going with it, but Dippet was never a good trustworthy source. Hogwart's ex-headmaster wasn't necessarily a bad person; just a very easily manipulated person, who spent his last years of work defeating Tom Riddle's crimes. Harry understood immediately and explained further: "Ok, I know how it sounds, but listen to this." He adjusted his round glasses and read out loud: "I am so pleased, as well as rest of the faculty, to see Tom have a real friend. He works too hard on his studies and a friend might be just what he needs to fully enjoy what life has to offer outside of school limits. She seems to smitten people where ever she goes; even Albus took a liking in this girl. Just the other day, I heard some of my younger pupils calling her 'the Alfa'. It is, supposedly, the outcome of a duel… makes me wonder about my own youth and how much times changed. We did not have to wear uniforms in my days- and then he goes on and on about local fashion" Harry finished, expecting older witch's response. Hermione frowned and took the parchment in her own hands: "Best friend? I seriously doubt that. I mean, Voldemort has no morals, nor any feelings, so even if this so called best friend is real, Voldemort probably doesn't care or has already killed them. Plus it would be hard to find one 70 years old woman, when we don't even know her name. She could be anywhere…"

"But what if it is true? This could be our advantage! We could still win!" Harry whispered the last part, not from fear but rather from regret. Hermione watched his face fall and felt angst setting in her own heart. Could they still win?

It was almost two years since the Battle of Hogwarts; almost two years since they lost. Voldemort and his army of Death Eaters, werewolves and giants have beaten them and it wasn't pretty. People were killed, the Hogwarts castle was destroyed and they barely made it out alive. She, Ron and Harry ran away after the last Order member was killed. Harry didn't want to go. He wanted to fight, but was dragged by Ron from a pointless death and Voldemort's ultimate victory, with nobody to stop him. So they ran. The tree of them spent a month or two hiding in Highlands of Scotland until one day, Harry decided to follow Voldemort and find anything to help him in his quest to get rid of the dark wizard. Ron disagreed, because he wanted to find rest of his family and survivors, if there were any, first. And so they split. Hermione and Ron stayed behind and Harry went after Voldemort.

Hermione wanted to go with Harry, but Ron...didn't let her.

Thoughts of past made Hermione feel uneasy. The time she spent with their deceased ginger friend didn't belong with her better memories, even though she assured herself, she did love him at the time. She reached out for the ring on her left hand and clutched her little fingers around it, still lost in thought.

Harry noticed almost immediately the change in mood. She could tell that he knew something was wrong. Her eyes followed his sight to her ring. It was massive ring made out of 24carat gold with a large emerald gem in the middle. Very detailed carvings of Latin writing and different images of animals and nature were covering the whole base up to point where the small silver leaves held the shining green rock in place.

"Hermione," there was a heavy pause: "How did Ron die?"

She didn't want him to bring this up, but Harry was very perceptive and it was almost expected.

Young witch decided there was no point in lying and answered: "I don't know..." It was the truth. She had no idea; she wasn't there when he was killed. She read it in a newspaper somebody left sitting on a bench in Hogsmeade. She looked at the black haired boy by her side, trying to read his features. He was dying to know.

„After you left, Ron and I searched all the safe places we could think off, but did not find anybody. He was getting more frustrated, and I more tired of the pointless search..." She trailed off and Harry nodded in understanding.

_"Nothing." stated Hermione tiredly after searching the entire top floor of the old shack they were currently occupying. It did not take much time, since the building itself had only two floors and wasn't too large, but it was the third place they searched this week and Hermione was getting annoyed. Every hour she spent searching those empty houses, or the woods, she could be chasing Harry and helping to deal with the real problem. She wanted to find them, Ginny, Neville and Mrs. Weasley, but the hope of doing so was getting thinner every day. Actually, she gave up long time ago. She would never admit it to her red haired friend, but she found this pathetic._

_"I'm sorry, Ron." she lightly touched ginger's shoulder._

_Ron run his hand through his hair and nodded: "We need to search Deadly Hallows again. They might just got there..."_

_"Ron," started Hermione carefully: "We have already searched there. We need to find Harry."_

_The taller wizard merely shook his head: "No we can't. We need to find any survivors. They might still be hiding somewhere."_

_"We have searched for months. Now we need to help Harry!" argued Hermione, even though she still made sure to keep her voice soft and calm. It would be no use to anger Ron. They had enough arguments already and every one of them ended the same; Ron got offended, yelled at her and later she had to go and apologize._

_The redhead turn abruptly towards her with a frown: "Don't you want to find them?"_

_And here was the question again. Ron had strange ways of guilting her into things; especially recently it seemed to be his favorite thing to do._

_She rolled her eyes instead of responding: "If Harry doesn't kill him, WE won't survive!" This time she spoke a little louder and with more force._

_"Oh, so you just want to leave to Merlin-knows-where and let the others to die?"_

_His fists were clinched now._

_"What others?" defied Hermione. "We looked everywhere and nothing! We need to consider our priorities!"_

_His eyes narrowed in anger, when he growled: "Perhaps, YOU need to reconsider YOUR priorities!"_

_"What? Ron, this is insane!"_

_He stopped dead in his back-and-forward striding around the room. Then he walked right in front of her and said in a dangerously low voice:" I'm insane? Fine! Well, maybe you SHOULD go then! If you want to find Harry so desperately, you are welcome to! But stop wasting my time!"_

_Wasting his time? Hermione was furious. Enough was enough! She turned on her heals and grabbed her brown leather bag from the floor._

_"Fine." she answered quietly before walking out the doors._

...and I haven't seen him since." she finished her story. It was unbelievable that this happened over two years ago. She felt very bad, when she heard of Weasley's demise. It somehow seemed like her fault, even though her brain told her otherwise. The golden ring on her hand was heavier than ever. She let out a small sigh.

"That is not all, is it?" asked Harry after a couple seconds of silence. Hermione tried to see his face in the darkness that surrounded the chamber. "What happened then?"

"No, it's not" she admitted with smile.

"After we split, I went back to Hogwarts. I was hoping to find anything about Voldemort whereabouts..." Pause. She still had a chance to back off and keep her secrets. She threw her best friend another look before deciding to continue:" There I ran into Draco Malfoy"

Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise: "Did he attack you? Was V-Voldemort there?"

"Not exactly..."

_The young witch sneaked out through the door of old potion classroom and whispered "lumos" to illuminate the corridor._

_For a year after his victory Voldemort has used the Hogwarts castle as his base, that is before he moved his attention towards the rest of the England and Scotland just wasn't as useful. Yet the castle itself still looked like he was never here. There were no items or clues left after him or his servants. Nothing. How was Hermione supposed to find out where he was?_

_She was almost half way at an intersection of the corridor she was in with another one leading towards the Great Hall and the main staircase, when she heard quickly nearing steps somewhere ahead of her. Quickly she dispelled the illumination charm and listened again. The steps were definitely close, but the intersection made it difficult to recognize where exactly their origin was. The bushy haired witch did the only sane thing her brain was able to put together at that moment and jumped behind the gigantic old tapestry, which hung motionlessly from a large stone arch. Couple seconds later there was a crash, which sounded like, and she assumed it was, a stray curse missing its target and clashing with one of the windows in the corridor. Hermione held her breath and got her wand ready. The steps were inevitably nearing. It wasn't just one person, as she thought at first, but it wasn't big group either. So she silently stood there in shadows, waiting for the intruders to pass._

_Suddenly, the edge of the tapestry flew open and a tall figure clothed in dark brown raincoat jumped fanatically behind it, just a foot away from Hermione. She froze. Death Eater! She tightened the grip on her wand. Luckily for her, whoever this was, they seemed way too preoccupied with the happenings on the other side of the tapestry to notice her standing right behind them. She tilted her head to the left to get a better view of the stranger's face, but the hood of his coat was pulled so forward that it was practically impossible for her to tell without the person actually turning. Her brain quickly ran through all the options she had; It was probably a Death Eater and this was her best chance to take him down, while she still had the advantage of surprise, but then again, hiding behind the curtains in Hogwarts wasn't exactly a typical Death Eater behavior…at least not since the entire castle was "ruled" by 'His Dark Lordship'._

_She drew her wand higher and was about to knock him, or her, unconscious, when the figure swiftly turned to around and Hermione found herself staring into the cold silver eyes of no other than Draco Malfoy. She pushed her wand to his throat just as young heir did the same to her. They stared at each other for good ten seconds, neither willing to make a move._

_And then there were more steps and hushed voices in the corridor. Both ex-classmates held their breaths._

"_You heard the Lord. The Malfoy prat must be eliminated." One voice whispered not far from them. It must have been couple of men by the corner of that corridor, searching for Draco. The answer was silence, broken only by decaying sounds of their steps._

_When it fell completely quiet again, Hermione decided to speak: "I think, they're gone."_

_Draco nodded. Their eyes met and it took almost a full minute before they came up to the silent agreement and slowly moved their wands away from the other's throat._

The next year and half was the strangest thing for young muggleborn. She and Malfoy, without ever discussing it, decided to stick together after the incident. It took a week of awkward silence before he actually spoke to her. She kept searching for any information on Harry or Voldemort and he kept following her. It felt really uncomfortable, at first, to have somebody sitting across the room, while she searched through the school documents or any writings that could have been left by Voldemort's followers, doing nothing, but one day, after couple of weeks, he started to help her organize and fill in the blanks about Voldemort's recent whereabouts. They still did not talk much, but they were becoming a great team.

Harry stopped Hermione with a deep sigh: "Mione, you know, you shouldn't have done that." Hermione knew exactly what he meant.

"Malfoy was a Death Eater; his father and mother were Death Eater. What if it was just a disguise? It seems suspicious, how you found him. He might have been sending all information to Voldemort and-"

"We got married" interrupted Hermione Harry's rant in a whisper. As time went on the Gryffindor found herself getting closer and closer to the attractive blond boy, especially after he dropped the all-pure act. To be honest, there was always strange tension between them, they just never got close enough to explore it. They talked a lot, and he was able to make even the darkest moment funny with his cynical remarks or snobbish behavior. It was almost like a perfect love story; they met, were forced to cooperate, fell in love and one day out of passion got married…

The black haired boy's mouth opened and closed few times without a word escaping. The pregnant pause followed, neither of them brave enough to face the other one. Hermione was sure Harry would hate her forever because of Ron and all, until he spoke softly with his eyes still pinned to floor: "I'm sorry"

"Why?"

Harry chuckled to himself and then finally raised his head to look at her: "My best friend got married and I missed it."

Another short pause.

Hermione bounced onto her best friend's already open arm. This might have been the happiest she's been in a long time. It was an indescribable feeling to have Harry back. It could have been yesterday they studied for their finals, they will never be able to take, or played chess late into the night on top of the Astronomy tower. The two of them used to sneak out of their dorm and go to the kitchens, while everyone else slept. There they ate the most obnoxious muggle and wizarding sweets, listened to music, and occasionally even danced and drank. Hermione now was sure she would take a bullet for this spooky, messy haired, introverted man in front of her.

Hermione woke up early next morning feeling completely rejuvenated, which was surprising since she and Harry spent the entire night talking about everything and anything in the world. She stretched her arms and turned her head slightly to the right just to find the younger wizard to be still deep in his private dreamland. She smiled to herself, got up from her sleeping bag and tiptoed to their bags. After checking her watch, she decided that it was still way too early for Harry and that he won't be up for at least another hour, so she might as well grab a book from her bag and enjoy some quality reading time. Maybe she could even check Hogwart's History for some information on archiving important documents. She kneeled next to the pile of the bags they brought yesterday and dipped her hand into her red infinity handbag. She was very proud of herself for creating that one. It took a quite a spell work to get the dimension to weight parameters right, so the bag isn't too heavy when stuffed or doesn't collide on itself when empty. Only problem she still needed to fix was the inability to use accio while searching through the indefinite space of the bag.

Hermione spent a good while blindly searching around with her fingers until she found the book she needed. When she pulled it out and closed her bag back up, she was about to head back to her sleeping spot, but a small object in Harry's half closed back caught her eye. It was her time-turner, but why was it in Harry's bag? She was sure she's always kept it in a safe pocket of her bag. After a second thought, the bushy witch decided not to get ahead of herself; it was probably a different time-turner and Harry would ask if he wanted to use hers. So she returned to sitting on her sleeping bag, opened the Hogwart's History and started to flip through the pages.

When ten minutes passed and she couldn't concentrate on anything outside of the small golden hourglass in her best friend's backpack, she closed the book and walked back to the place of interest. She unzipped the bag and as she was to reach after the time-turner, she stopped. What was she doing? This was Harry Potter. The good guy, the savior. She should trust him and not go around violating his privacy. She tried to pull her hand away, but the curiosity got the better of her and she grabbed the small pedant.

Just one single look at assured her it was in deed hers. It even had the name of their old transfiguration professor engraved on its bottom side. She checked on still sleeping form of The Boy Who Live and turned back to her hand. What would Harry want with it that he couldn't just ask her? She pondered purposely ignoring the hurtful fact that her best friend stole from her. Her free hand reached into the bag for the small leather notebook lying where the time-turner was just a seconds ago. She remembered Harry writing names of all dead people in the war, suspected and proved. It was more used now, actually almost the whole book was full and it wasn't just a list anymore. As Hermione went through all the pages of different schemes, notes, names, some crossed out and some circled, an old yellowing page fell out onto her lap. She scanned it and immediately knew what Harry planned with her time-turner.

At the top there were couple book titles such as Time-Traveled by Sarvirus Polligan and How far to the Past by Miranda Lowen. Right underneath that was a list of some spell Hermione couldn't read because they were all crossed out except for one, Lamis Tempus. From there simple arrow directed her to couple notes on the bottom reading: Aug 15, 1943- TMR- 5th

Jan 20, Chamber of Secrets opens

Jan 28, Myrtle

Sum 44, DarkMark, DE

After this there was one more word, friend, circled and underlined many times.

Harry Potter was after that girl, the so called Voldemort's best friend! But he wasn't planning on finding her now, but in the past! He wanted to travel 50 years into the past and..

Hermione did not have time to finish her thoughts, because a voice disrupted the silence: "Hermione, what are you doing?"

She dived so deep in his notebook she didn't noticed he got up and was now standing just a couple yards away. She jumped to her feet like a child caught sneaking into the forbidden cookie jar.

"What am I doing? How about yourself?" she replied little panicked. Harry has already noticed the things in her hand.

"What is this?" she demanded and held both book and the time-turned in front of her.

"Hermione, calm down." said Harry and took a careful step towards his friend, but Hermione was way too enraged and took a swift step backwards.

"No! Are you crazy?! What the hell?" yelled Hermione, still keeping a distance between them.

"Hermione, please, first calm down and then we can talk about it." Tried Harry

Hermione only huffed back: "Talk about what? About your stupid plan to go back in fucking time to what? To chase somebody some moron mentioned in his diary? " said Hermione desperately thinking that this must be just her luck. She finnaly got her best friend back two weeks ago and now he wanted to literally commit a suicide.

Harry was getting frustrated with his constantly backing-up friend: "This is our big chance Hermione! I have to go and bring her here!"

But Hermione wasn't about to give up: "What?! That's a fucking suicide! He will find you and kill you! And you don't even know how to get back!" blamed angrily Hermione, her high-pitched voice echoing through the chamber.

Harry stopped for a second but then said in a calm voice: "I have to try" He looked at Hermione for a support, but she only clutched things harder in her hands and shook her head.

"I won't let you."

A seconds passed, when Harry suddenly charged towards Hermione full speed, his hand aiming for the time-turner. They were only about two yards apart, so with his Quiddich skills as a Seeker is was no problem to get a hold of the golden chain on the first try. They struggled, the chain snapped and it was only a very unfortunate result that the falling spinning golden hourglass landed right underneath Harry's foot. The fragile glass shattered. They both followed the noise with their eyes. Harry bent down to pick up the broken pieces, when Hermione spoke: "H-Harry?"

Her voice sounded scared, so he looked up. The young witch's eyes were widened with fear as she watched her disappearing hands.

"Hermione?" Harry reached out to grab her arm, but his hand went through her body like she was nothing more than a ghost.

"Help me" was the last thing Hermione whispered, before vanishing with Harry's notebook and the broken chain into the thin air.

So, what did you think?


	3. 2 Meeting Malfoy

Menteur: Chapter 2: Meeting Malfoy

August 28, 1943 

Her vision was blurry and her head spun violently causing a nauseating feeling at the pit of her stomach to push her breakfast out of her belly towards the esophagus. She closed her eyes. 1,2,3..she counted to ten before trying to open them back up. She could see her own hands and the water almost clearly now…Wait! Water? She looked around, still trying to adjust her sight to the blurriness. It was very dark, so she wasn't able to see very clearly anyway, but what she knew for a fact was that the floor was in deed covered in thin layer of still water. She could feel it soaking through the material of her tennis shoes making her toes uncomfortably cold. 

"Harry?" Hermione whispered faintly. She waited couple seconds, but there was no answer. Everything was still and strangely quiet. She pocketed the broken chain and put Harry's notebook in her Infinity bag. Then she decided her sight was adjusted enough and slowly moved forward. She had no idea where she was or where she was going, but it would be too dangerous to simply cast lumos and look. That stupid enchantment Harry put on her time-turner must have transported her somewhere and with her luck it's probably Malfoy Manor, or Voldemort's current base! Stupid Harry and his crazy ideas! 

She stumbled little more before her hands found something to hold onto in the darkness. She carefully swiped the palms of her hands over its sleek, cold surface. It was strange; almost like something was carved into the wall with a stunning detail. She continued searching the unknown pattern, moving up and down small bumps and wrinkled lines. The carvings were simple, long strips mostly flowing straight but curled on the narrowing end, almost like snakes'tails. She moved one step to the right to find where those carvings lead, until she eventually found a point of their seeming convergence. There all of them came together and forward, creating almost a statue like object. Longer she examined the place, more it reminded her of a nose. Actually, she was sure it was a nose and there was only one statue, which nose was proportional to the one she found- Salazar Slytherin. That meant she still was in the Chamber of Secrets, but what was all that water doing there? And where was Harry? 

Hermione reached for the crack on Salazar's cheek, but when her hands finally reached the place where she remembered it was, there was no sign of it, just smooth marble. She checked the part of his head which was knocked off during the battle of Hogwarts. There it was, untouched, firmly attached to the rest of his forehead…Shit! 

Screw all the precautions, thought Hermione and snapped her fingers for her wand to land in her hand. 

"Lumos" 

The Chamber of Secrets in front of her looked even more unwelcoming than before. Everything seemed cleaner and shinier. There were no cracks on the floor, no collapsed ceiling. The snake statues were standing to the perfection of their creator and the heavy metal vault door sealed shut. The young witch turned back to Slytherin's head. There was something else, outside of it being repaired, odd about it… 

When the idea finally hit her she spun on her heals and sprinted as fast as she could towards the first possible exit. The last time she looked at the statue, the mouth of Hogwarts builder, was open. It was so since Basilisk left his nesting place through it to attack Harry in their second year and because it was impossible to close the secret door without its monster returning, it simply stayed open since then… and now it was closed! Hermione quickly crawled into the closest sewer. 

Stupid, stupid Harry! The Chamber of Secrets, the water on the floor, the time-turner accident! It all was making more and more sense! She traveled through the time, but to when? It could have been anywhere! How is she going to get back? There were thousands questions running through her head at once and she was getting the feeling that the answers to them won't be in her favor. 

She did not stop crawling until she reached the large sewer lit placed in an opening above her. She pushed it aside with all her might, squeezed herself out of the sewer and carefully kicked the metal lit back on with her foot. It was quite comical, Hermione though, that all the chamber's entrances seem to end in a washroom. At least this time it wasn't a lady's room, otherwise she might have suspected Salazar of some ulterior motives for building it. The curly haired witch played with the funny idea for little bit longer before she decided that the best thing to do, would be to leave Hogwarts as soon as possible. She was transferred in time, she knew that much, but the question was how far. Since the Basilisk was most likely still alive in the dungeons, it was definitely before their second year a.k.a. at least 10 years back…Hermione rubbed the sweat off of her forehead. This was going to be problematic. First she must leave the castle to ensure that she won't be seen by anyone from her time, and that way, manage to alter the future. Then maybe she could travel to the Ministry and ask for help at the Department of Magical Accidents. They might be able to help her out… 

It was middle of the night, so Hermione didn't have to worry about any students crossing her path and has made it out onto the grounds in a record time. At the edge of the Forbidden Forest, she turned to look back at the castle and noticed somebody going towards the tall trees right behind the lake. Normally, she would not pay any attention to some students, strolling through the school in the middle of the night to meet their lovers or friends, but this one had a full head of platinum hair- the Malfoy trademark. His school robes flew behind him, as he rushed across the grounds. It couldn't be Draco, could it? Hermione's curiosity took over and she sneaked closer to where he was heading, finding an adequate hiding spot behind some ivy bushes. As he got closer, Hermione was sure that this was in deed one of the Malfoys. It was almost painful how much this one looked like Draco; picture-perfect pale skin, shinning blue eyes, high cheekbones with strong jawline and long, slightly pointy nose, this all framed by nearly-white hair. Hermione frowned, when she noticed how upset he looked. His eyebrows were furrowed together creating a petite wrinkle just above the bridge of his nose, eyes fixed on the ground, and hands clutched into fists. Hermione couldn't help but wonder what was going on and maybe it was her inquisitive nature, or maybe it was the thought of Draco, what made her follow him deeper to the woods. 

It did not take more than a minute of sneaking behind this guy before he stopped. About 50 yards farther into the forest, in the small clearing, were standing in an almost geometrical circle five other male figures, all wrapped in their school cloaks, waiting in a complete silence. The blond wizard quickly joined the others. Couple whispered sentences were exchanged between them, when suddenly there was a puff of grey shimmery smoke and a person stepped out of it. The whispers died down as soon as the last person's foot touched the ground and everybody made a timid step back. 

"How nice of you to finally join us, Malfoy" said the newcomer in a smooth voice. From her position Hermione couldn't see his face, but the tone of his voice said it all. 

Malfoy, who had his back to him and therefore didn't see him appearing in the clearing, shuttered. He followed the example of other and kneeled down, bowing his blond head low enough to kiss the hem of his cloak. 

"I'm sorry, my Lord" he coughed out without ever looking to his lord's eyes. 

Voldemort? Thought Hermione, taking a closer look at the tall black haired man's back. He turned around in her direction and Hermione froze on the spot. This couldn't be HIM! The person in front of her was merely a boy no more than 16 years of age. True, he was quite tall, way taller than her, with angular features which gave him eminent aura of maturity and independence. One couldn't find a one flaw on his look; his thick black hair was brushed out of his face in a very classical stylet of 50s gentleman, making a contrast to his pale ashy skin. Although the most charming part were his eyes. Two black marbles were shining with dominance and cold logic, and yet graceful was the only word Hermione could find to describe them. 

"We will discuss that later" said young Voldemort apathetically. Then he sharply turned to the rest: "I hope you have everything I asked for" 

All boys nodded in union and pulled various object out of their capes and pockets. All of them got handed to the Voldemort and he carefully checked every one of them before putting them in his own cloak. 

After all goods were transferred, the group took its original circular shape with dark wizard in its middle. One more time he looked his minions over before setting his gaze on young Malfoy : "Now, what shall we do with you, my friend." 

"I'm sorry, my Lord. Professor Lawry's appointment took longer than expected. " answered Malfoy, kneeling again. 

Young Voldemort crossed his arms behind his back and spoke: "Are you saying that you are incapable to handle simple time-management task?" He paused, even though he did not expect an answer. 

"Do you still remember what your priorities are, Malfoy?" 

Malfoy nodded silently with his head down. 

"Really?" Voldemort raised his eyebrows as to mock the man in front of him "Maybe, I should still remind you." 

He pulled out his wand and pointed it at Malfoy's chest. With one swift swing, Malfoy fell onto the ground shaking violently as the waves of pain washed over him. Hermione bit her lip. Fine stream of blood rolled down blonde's chin and his arms immediately went to his chest, where another bloodstain started to appear from underneath his green sweater. The young witch knew she shouldn't, but she couldn't let him suffer. It was too much. 

She snapped her finger for her wand. When it appeared in her hand she touched its tip to her throat and whispered "AliquaAnimusFelix". This was a quite simple spell she learned from Lee Jordan. Only thing it did, it imitated a noise particular animal makes before it fights a projected it about 20x louder in a high pitched frequencies out of the mouth of the caster. They used it constantly at the Quiddich matches to announce the winner and she remembered covering her ears from skull-puncturing, highly annoying sound. It should distract them though, or maybe alert somebody in the castle. 

Hermione, with her wand still pressed to her neck, screamed on the top of her lungs. The sound which escaped her lips was indeed awful. Instead of the Phoenix's war cry, that she intended, it sounded more like a car trapped in whale's breathing apparatus. But it got the job done beautifully. Voldemort interrupted his torture and looked cautiously around. 

"My Lord, that's not a good sign! We need to go before somebody finds us!" panicked the short boy with long dark brown hair. 

Voldemort thought about it for a second and then smiled victoriously as an idea crossed his mind. "Alright, BUT-" With a hand gesture he stopped two students who tried in a hurry to help bleeding and almost unconscious Malfoy up. 

"Leave him here" he ordered. "He wanted to prove his worth, didn't he?" 

One of the boys protested but was shut down with one single look from his master. After that they all cleared out. 

Hermione didn't even wait for the Voldemort's little group to be far before jumping to injured Malfoy. One look and she could tell it was actually worse than she expected. There were couple minor cuts around his arms and face, which could be sealed with basic wound-sealing potion, but the large gash, spreading from his collarbone to his stomach, was making her nervous. The sticky blood was getting on her hands, making it difficult to undo buttons of his shirt. 

The blond wizard let out a painful sigh, when she finally reached the wound. His eyes were still shut, but he was obviously still conscious enough to feel the pain. 

"Woah, don't get up. You will make it worse." whispered Hermione, and pushed down on his shoulder to keep him still when he was about to get up. She did what she could; she patched up his wounds with a best healing charm she could think of and gave him blood replenishing potion from her bag. He refused it at first, but all his strength eventually ran out and he had no other choice than let himself be fed a whole dose of foul-tasting liquid. 

"W-who *cough* who are you?" Hermione turned to answer and found him staring at her through half closed eyes. He tried to grab her arm, but missed in his delirious state by almost 10 inches. He probably can even see me form all that blood loss, realized Hermione relieved. 

"A friend" she decided on the most appropriate answer to calm Malfoy's suspicions. 

He snickered: "Well, nice to meet you, A Friend. My name is Abraxas Malfoeey…" joked blond before slipping into the sweet world of unconsciousness, leaving the speechless witch having to levitate him into the Hospital Wing.

To be continued...


	4. 3 Chat with the Hat

Menteur: Chapter 3: A Chat with the Hat 

August 28, 1943 

"May I speak with you in private, miss?" came a question from somewhere behind her. She slowly turned after the familiar voice. 

There, just a couple of feet from her, stood Albus Dumbledore himself. For a second she wasn't even sure it was really him. This man's beard was noticeably shorter, than what she was used to from her own time…that is, before he was killed by Snape. His hair was the most unnatural shade of red that even Weasleys could not compare with only streaks and lonely locks of grey. She could finally understand just how much toll it took on him to keep peace within the school throughout the reigns of two incredibly powerful dark wizards. No one she knew would call this Dumbledore an old man. He stood tall, with his eyes that saw the infinity of the world, his magic aura radiating off of him with such strength, Hermione could feel it puncturing her body like it was nothing more than paper thin and leaving his mark on her soul. It was like meeting a legend, a hero, in their primetime. 

She took a last look at elder medi-witch cautiously tending to young Abraxas Malfoy and nodded without saying a single word. Dumbledore gave her curd nod, his eyebrows furrowed in suspicion and said: "Could you wait for me in my office near the Transfiguration classroom, while I talk to Mrs. Grey, please. It's just down this corridor, fifth door on the left." He outstretched his arm in the general direction of his office to clarify, which Hermione naturally already knew, but did not dare to say anything, what could attract even more attention. She silently turned and walked out of the Hospital Wing, heading towards said office. 

For every material step she took, her mind went at least a mile. She was caught, and on top of that by Dumbledore, the greatest and all-knowing wizard alive. Even if she tried to run away and hide now, she wouldn't probably make it too far before he found her again and made her spill all of secrets. She sighed. 

When she finally reached the door, she stopped and breathed deeply, pulled the door open and disappeared into the classroom. Inside it looked just like it did when she was in school minus some of the exemplars, which were donated to Hogwarts during the later years; usually courtesy of Dumbledore's ministry friends after he became the headmaster. Young witch followed the row of desks to the other side of spacy room, where the heavy wooden door let to the current transfiguration teacher's cabinet. Once inside, Hermione strolled nervously towards closest empty chair by the massive mahogany table and sat down. This room did change a lot. It went from McGonagall's tidy, quiet and slightly bureaucratic work place into a chaotic, surprisingly noisy half research-half storage space. Every single object in there was clicking, levitating around in the circles or transfiguring from one thing to another, just to turn right back into its original form. Instruments that didn't do any of before mentioned activities at least occasionally glowed different color. It was simply chaos, but Hermione was too busy considering her options to be offended or distressed by any of this. 

She found herself doubting her decision to help Malfoy. What was wrong with her? This was the same man, who in couple years will raise one of the most selfish, cruel excuses for a human being otherwise known as Lucius Malfoy. Not even counting, that he ALREADY was a part of the Knights of Walpurgis, which was pretty much like being the original Death Eater. She was stupid for interfering with anything here and it shouldn't surprise her that Dumbledore found out. If he was at least a little bit like the headmaster from her own time, he probably knew about every single whisper going around the school. Could this change the timeline? What if she was going to say something what could change the future? No one, not even Dumbledore, was powerful enough to shift or bend time to their will and prosper. If her calculations were correct, and Voldemort was still in his teens, she must have landed somewhere in early 40's, which also means that Albus Dumbledore have to yet dealt with his childhood nemesis, Gellert Grindelwald, nor got the Elder Wand in his possession. Even though strong wizard, he was still just fraction of his future self… 

Hermione paused for a second and thought. Maybe she still could run! Dumbledore didn't set the improved protecting wards until after Tom Riddle's left the school. She could still sneak by the path to Hogsmeade, which, based on chapter 26 of Hogwarts: A History, was still left unguarded except of few basic charms and she could definitely handle those. 

Hermione hopped out of comfy chair and rushed towards the exit so she could make it out before Albus returns from his chat with the healer. 

"Ehm-hmm" a rusty sounding noise came from her left before she had time to walk out of the door, but when she turned to look, there was nobody there. She took two steps closer to the renaissance-fashioned dresser, where the sound was coming from. It was a very old and worn down looking piece of furniture with one set of large double doors and couple of drawers at the bottom. Hermione carefully opened the doors, expecting an animal or maybe a feral goblin to jump out and run for their lives, but only thing she found in there was the Sorting Hat. The old leathery thing sat leisurely on the top shelf making a minimal movement, but its eye-like dents seemed to follow her every movement. Hermione reached up, grabbed the hat and sat it on her head full of unruly curls. 

'_Ah, Mrs. Malfoy, aren't you little too old to be in school? Plus, if I remember correctly I have already sorted you once._' Said the hat happily. 

'_How do you know my name? and..and.._' 

She didn't have to say it, because the hat laughed loudly before finishing for her: '_And that you are married?_' 

Hermione nodded. 

'_I, my dear_,' started the hat in a sympathetic tone: '_see anything and everything what is in your mind- all the things that happened_' 

'_Do you know how to get me back then? Please_!' demanded young witch. 

The Sorting Hat sighed: '_I'm afraid I do not, Mrs. Malfoy_.' 

'_Well, I guess it was worth a try_' thought Hermione: '_Could you at least point me out to the best way out of here? As you might know, I'm not familiar with this year's prefect rounds and am pretty sure the Whomping Willow Passage is not there yet, am I right?_' 

'_Correct_' said the hat: '_The passage behind Gunhilda Gorsemoor is probably your safest bet. Not many students know about it and it will lead you straight to the open Floo Network at the Hog's Head. From there it will be only a matter of seconds to reach the Ministry._ ' 

'_Thanks._' Said Hermione and was about to take the Sorting Hat off, when it suddenly blurred out: '_THAT IS, if you really want to leave!_' 

'_What do you mean?_' she asked and sat him (or it) back on her head. Sorting Hat made a breathe-out noise and explained: '_If you go to the Ministry, you might never get the opportunity to come back…_' 

After correctly translating Hermione's silence as a puzzlement, the Hat continued: _'Maybe it could be useful to stay a little while._' 

'_That's completely unacceptable! What if I change the future? Bad things happen to wizards who meddle with time._' Hermione recited the same phrase Dumbledore told her and Harry at the end of their third year. 

'_But he lost in the end, didn't he?_' the Hat pointed out as he was reading her mind, pointing at Dumbledore's demise and the lost war, but Hermione wouldn't have any of it. 

'_So, you expect me to charge into Voldemort's dorm room and murder him in his sleep? That spells Azkaban!_' 

'_I have to admit, I do not feel pity, nor sympathy, for Mr. Riddle as Albus does._' The Hat sounded sad, maybe even remorseful, for saying this, yet it chooses to continue: '_He believes that everybody deserves redemption, no matter of their previous acts…But I, I have seen HIS mind and all the things in it. He must be stopped, Hermione_.' 

Hermione listened silently to the Sorting Hat, slipping more and more into her own thoughts. The Hat was absolutely correct about one thing; the Dark Lord must be stopped, but Hermione was positive, it was not in her powers to fight the strongest wizard alive, as many called him in her days, and succeed. She was nobody, a muggleborn with brain and slight talent for magic control. She could waste her life practicing spell and curses and never reach Voldemort's level. How could she ever face him by herself without risking the revelation of her time-travelling, or worse, accidentally giving him any vital information on his future? It would be suicidal mission at best. 

'_You are forgetting, that now you have a huge advantage, Mrs. Malfoy_.' The Hat interrupted her, precisely knowing, what she was thinking: '_Mr. Potter sacrificed so much to get where you are now; to have the same advantage. Spell that transport one more than fifty years in time are not just lying around_' 

Hermione frowned at this, not because the information itself annoyed her, but because it was true. She never really thought about how much Harry must have gone through just to get it all set up and then find her. Most of their friends and families were killed at the Battle of Hogwarts, and those who were unlucky enough to survive, were later tracked down by Death Eaters and torn to pieces… until it was just her and Harry left. It never stopped to amaze her, how tirelessly her best friend kept fighting and never gave up hope. Suddenly, the bushy haired witch felt terrible for not supporting him more. If she just wasn't such a rule-follow prude, they could have been here together and have at least some chance, but because she had to be such a stuck-up, is she here now alone with only her wand, Harry's notebook, the empty infinity bag and broken time-turner chain. 

Hermione sighed: '_What if I change my future for the worse_?' 

'_Is there really that much to lose_?' the Hat asked a question they both already knew answer to. 

The silence between them was short, but nearly suffocating everything it reached. 

'_You are very easily silenced, for a brightest witch of your age_' noted the Sorting Hat, mocking the young witch in attempt to lighten the mood. It must have been the absurdity of the comment and realness of the situation, what made Hermione burst out in a desperate laughter. She used to be so proud of that title; getting good grades symbolized her world and now it meant nothing at all. She used to be so naïve… 

"I'm glad you are getting acquainted, miss." Albus' voice surfaced from the door. The future headmaster was attentively watching her, his facial features frozen into a stern look. 

Hermione quickly pulled the Hat off, leaving her hair even more disheveled that it was before, and sat the leather accessory on Dumbledore's table. Then she turned to fully face him. She had no idea how long was he there and was very appreciative of the Hat's abilities to talk mind-to-mind. 

"I apologize for my unwelcoming manners, but please understand my restraint, when some unknown witch shows up in our school with an injured student and without ever setting off warding security system." Dumbledore explained as he sat behind his table, hand-gesturing her to do the same. 

When they both were seated, Dumbledore pushed his glasses higher up on his nose and started: "What happened to Mr. Malfoy? And perhaps you should start with telling me your name." 

"I-" Hermione glanced at the Sorting Hat at the edge of the table. This was the time to decide what to do. She could tell the truth about her time-turner accident and probably be sent to the Ministry immediately, or she could lie and try to stop Riddle before he gains his full powers and kills all the muggles and wizards in his way to the world domination and immortality. It took only one memory of her friends falling down during the battle like leaves in autumn, and it was decided. 

"My name is Serena, sir, Serena Durand" Hermione tried her best to copy Fleur's cheesy French accent. She hated lying to the man, who is one day going to save her, Harry's and Ron's lives, but she was worried that Dumbledore's fatherly instincts towards Tom Riddle clouded his mind and he would not be willing to give up. After all, it wouldn't be the first time the wise wizard closed his eyes over Voldemort's crimes. 

"I don't know, what 'appened to zat boy. You see, I was on my way to ze Hogwarts, when I found 'im in ze woods laying uncouzius." lied Hermione. 

"Then you must have had reason to come here." 

As soon as he said it, a few possible lies flew through Hermione's brain, but only one of them struck her as just enough brilliant and also quite cunning. 

"Grindelwald killed zem. 'E killed my family. I 'ad nowhere else to go. I 'ad to leave! You see, my fatzer was born in Scotland and 'e used to tell me stories of ze Hogwarts and 'ow safe it was, so I came here." Hermione almost wanted to congratulate herself for pulling this off. It was actually very wicked for her to use Dumbledore's strange affection towards his old friend just to get him feel compassion for her story and she felt bad as soon as the words left her mouth. But concealing of her identity was the priority right now. 

Albus' face considerably saddened upon hearing the lie Hermione was so professionally feeding him, but the tiny spark of uncertainty never left his eyes. She's seen this look before and knew exactly what to do. Just a second after she put her Occlumency wards up, she could feel his presence in her head, searching around and trying to push through the block she has made to protect any sensitive memories. He gave up quicker that she expected; after all he was Albus Dumbledore, the master of Legilimency, and if he really wanted to, could have pushed through her wards without a drop of sweat. Yet, for some reason, he decided not to and his magic slowly floated away. 

"Alright, then. We will have to talk to Headmaster Dippet first, but I'm sure there won't be any problems. Hogwarts is always open to the refugees." Said Dumbledore lightly. 

It took almost two hours to talk with headmaster Dippet and put all of her new school-file information together, especially since she had to make everything up as she went, but after all of that was done, the old headmaster summoned the Sorting Hat and Hermione was sorted for the second time in her life, into her new house- Slytherin. Obviously, the Hat found it very important for her 'quest' and despite all Hermione's begging, it announced the snake house's name for the headmaster and Albus to hear. The young witch was upset at first, because she didn't view it as the best idea to put a muggleborn into a pit of vicious purebloods, but the Hat was persuaded that it would be useful, and Hermione forgot about it as soon as she got her new schedule. All the 7th years, which included her since she was at least 3 years older than the oldest student, had to take three required subjects- Potions, Transfiguration, and Charms- and four electives for which she picked Alchemy, Ancient Runes, Magical Theory and the Dueling, she hoped will be something like DADA because to her surprise in 1940s they didn't offer this class. One thing, she didn't lose during the war was her love of studying. She already couldn't wait to go to the library and checkout all the books, which didn't make it into the 90s. With her schedule, Dipped also gave her list of all the items she was required to buy and permission to go Hogsmeade the upcoming weekend. 

The only problem Hermione encountered was right after the door of principal's office closed behind her and she realized, they did not give the password to the Slytherin dorms. It was too late to search the school for somebody to tell her and she didn't feel like sleeping in the dungeons with all the sneaky swindlers anyway, so she decided to camp out in the Room of Requirement at least for a week or two. When she got there, with use of couple basic transfiguration spells, she managed to create a decent living space, including a queen-size bed, one table, couple shelves, dresser, and a small cozy love seat. To show her continuing defiance, she made sure that all the furniture was either wooden or deep red, the sign of Gryffindor. Later she decided to take some extra security measures such as putting a big load of charms around the room and adjusting her appearance a little. She used a dye-spell to turn her hair black and then straightened it a little. She wasn't a big fan of her new dark-slytherinish look, but last thing she needed was some future Death Eater to remember a bushy haired witch appearing out of a thin air during their stay at Hogwarts. She was already high enough on the Voldy's Hit List, as Fred and George used to call the Order during the war. 

She sighed. 'Welcome back home, Hermione…' she thought before heading to the inviting warmth of her new bed.

To be continued...

I hope you liked this chapter...as always rate and comment below :) I know this chapter wasnt as good, but I pledge to do better next time :D


	5. 4 Serena - part 1

Menteur: Chapter 4: Serena- part 1 

September 30, 1943 (notice ca. one month has passed since HG's arrival-dates will be important later) 

Tom put the book in his hand neatly back to its place on one of bookshelves, even though the only thing he wanted to do, was to throw it across the room and burn it. He wanted to make it suffer for not giving him the information he searched. It must have been at least 50th book he checked today, but still he seemed to be unable to find anything on horcruxes- not a single mention of it. To say that he was annoyed would be an understatement of the year. He spent whole last semester and a great part of the summer making Horace Slughorn warm up to him enough to give him the permission for entering the 'limited access' part of the Hogwart's library. And now, there was nothing! He took one more quick look around the place, checking all the spots and places he might have missed before walking to the young woman at the main desk. 

"Hello, Miss Irma. Is that a new hat? It looks very lovely on you!" he said charmingly his well-prepared greeting. He knew for sure the atypical bonnet on dark haired lady was new. Its red material showed every sign of being new and unworn, but that wasn't important. For Tom it only served as a cleaver mediator between himself and things he wanted to know. 

The young librarian only giggled and waved her hand at his comment like it meant nothing more than a formality, but couldn't help not to sassily straighten her new headgear. Then she smiled sweetly: "What can I do for you, Tom?" 

Tom casually leaned on the counter: "I was looking for some specific books for my research, but they seem to be missing." 

"Oh, I'm sure some student took them and will return them in no time. Just give it a day or two." Answered the woman lightly. 

Tom suppressed a scowl, which was threatening to show his displeasure towards older woman's stupidity and inability to supply him with some satisfactory explanation to the lack of certain literature in one of the biggest libraries in the whole magical world. 

"It's little more difficult, you see." He said seriously, leaning even closer to her, looking straight into her eyes. The librarian tried to mimic the stern look in student's face, but it was obvious his proximity made her nervous and she eventually avoided his eyes, subconsciously allowing young Voldemort to take the dominant position. He smiled. 

"They should be in the Restricted Section and as far as I know no books can be checked out of that section…yet they are gone." Irma nervously played with a quill in her hand as he explained. 

Tom gave her a second to take an initiative, but when she did not even open her mouth, he spoke again: "Maybe, you could tell me who took them, so I can ask that person to lend them to me for a quick read?" 

Prince cleared her throat: "W-well…the Head Girl and Boy are the only other students with a full access to the Restricted Section…Maybe you could check with them?" 

Upon hearing this, Tom silently cursed every higher power he could think off, because He was sure this was the destiny laughing in his face. Norris Lukegrass, the pathetic excuse for a wizard and a current head boy, was not probably even aware of this books' existence, and if the only other possibility was the head girl, Minarva Mcgonagall, clever, very well read and nosy senior student, it was highly probable that the books were, indeed, in her possession. If this were to be true, Tom knew, it would be very hard to acquire those books without making Miss Goody-pants suspicious and immediately running to Dumbledore. .. 

He promptly checked his watch just to find out it was time to head to the Magical Theory class and after curt nod to Irma, Tom exited the library. When he finally made it to the spacious room on the 5th floor, which until this year used to be storage, but was renovated by Terrace London, the teacher himself, into a possibly best classroom in the whole school, the majority of the students were already sitting at their circle-arranged desks, and it didn't take more than a minute before the teacher entered also. This middle aged man dressed in long leather over coat, which looked like it had its better days long behind, rushed towards his table at the far back of the room, hands full of different scrolls, books, wands and other common magical objects. Uneducated wizard or witch could meet this confused looking man on the street and think nothing more of him that a crazed hobo or escaped lunatic, but everyone with at least little knowledge of recent discoveries would recognize the most productive theoretic of both dark and light magic in England. Just within the last two months Tom has read about five new spells Terrace came up with, and that was really something. Normally, it took months, if not years, for one to perfect a new spell, but this man was putting them out like they were some simple potions. Tom had to admit, he was excited to learn from him. 

"Now, students, if you calm yourself, I would like to return your essays." Mr. London said, not even looking at his pupils, still going through hills of parchments on his table. Tom slit into his usual spot next to Malfoy and some Rawenclaw girl with way too obnoxious glasses. 

"Also…ah, here they are!" the professor trailed off and pulled out a paper box of, what Tom assumed, were their corrected and graded essays. Mr. London breathed out happily and gazed at the students for the first time, his emerald green eyes sparkling with excitement. Then he continued: "As always, these essays helped me determine which one of you is the best fit to be my teaching assistant this semester." 

Tom could barely suppress a smug smile. He was going to be the TA; the position was his since he first signed up for this class a year ago. Every semester he got the highest marks, so far successfully managed every task his teacher gave him and most importantly, was the top student in the entire school. His only real competition was Abraxas Malfoy, who was incredibly intelligent and had naturally stronger magic than most, but luckily for Tom, the rich boy lacked the internal drive and thirst for power. And even though young Voldemort was sure he could eliminate Malfoy, if it was needed, having him on his side made things quite easier. No matter of his wealth, power or heritage, Abraxas would never go against his master. 

"I won't torment you with suspense any longer…"laughed Terrace at his own joke, while most of the students just rolled their eyes at the banality. They all knew that they had no chance against Tom and this 'suspence' game was merely waiting for the professor to state what everyone had already known. Mr. London pulled out one of the parchments and read the name on it aloud. 

"Miss Serena Durand!" 

As soon as it was spoken, one could hear a pin drop. Couple students whispered something to their deskmates and others' eyes searched the classroom for the new TA. A girl in Slytherin uniform just a couple seats away from Tom raised her hand. Except for her thick puffy dark hair tied in huge knot on the top of her head, she was very plain looking. Yet it bothered him, that he had never noticed her. Hogwarts was his school since he first set a foot on its grounds and he always knew everything and everybody in it, especially when it concerned his own house. This was unacceptable! He tossed a quick questioning look at Abraxas, but young heir only shrugged his shoulders and continued to watch the new girl. 

When the professor came to congratulate and shake her hand, she glanced nervously around the room until her eyes found Tom's. He put on a polite smile, but it seemed to cause girl's indifference to be exchanged for a slight frown. Then she turned back to the professor, who was explaining her all the duties and privileges of being TA, while Tom, just like all the other students, kept watching her attentively. 

The witch spoke with mild French accent, from which he assumed she must be some sort of exchange student- a new comer, obviously very smart as she managed to catch genius professor's attention. He didn't mind, because he liked challenge. What bothered him though was, that he had not seen her anywhere, not even the Slytherin dorms or the Great Hall untill now. It was like she appeared out of nowhere… 

He spent unhealthy part of the lesson monitoring her movements, little habits and anything she said, before his mind drifted back to more pressing matters such as Horcrux research and the way to check whether Minerva does or does not have those books from the library. The sooner he gets hold of them, sooner he can make one, and then…the bell rang and it was time for the Dueling class- Tom's favorite subject and a perfect chance to talk to the Head Girl. 

Sorry, it's so short, but the X-mas are draining my life powers :D This chapter is more from Tom Riddle's POV and the next one is probably going to be too. Do you guys like it or should I stick with just HG? Read n review :) 


	6. 4 Serena- part 2

Ok , so before I start I would like to thank you all for your support and answer some of the questions:

1. Yes, I also do hope I have this story well-planned to make it all fit together :D Hahaha

2. I know I should use beta, but I'm kind of lone wolf, working my own pace and writing/posting only when I feel like it...and sometimes I return to the draft many times to change whole paragraphs or parts of story itself...so it's really difficult for me to deal with other people to work on the same thing :(

3. Yes, Abraxas Malfoy is going to get his own chapters as he is indeed a major character :)

4. and last, yes, there is going to be a pairing with Hermione, you just have to wait to find out with whom :)

Menteur: Chapter 4: Serena -Part 2 

September 30, 1943 

The classroom for practical magic was more of an aula rather than a normal sized room. The beige stone walls reached over 30 feet high and ran 100 feet from one corner to the other, with no decorations what so ever outside of six _quinto acuto_ windows. The floor, on the other hand, resembled a thick old Saxony carpet which had an ability to mold its shape based on the pressure put on it. Once the duel started and the dueling platform were locked, the firm carpeted floor changed from its typical solid state into a water bed-like consistency, protecting any student hit by a curse from any serious harm caused by falling. Any other harm was free game. Tom loved dueling. It was a great opportunity to test one's practical knowledge of magic and practice reflexes, which he knew, in the end, was the only thing that counted face to face with an enemy. If he ever were to accomplish his dream for immortality, he would have to be an exceptional wizard in mind as well as in practice. Actually, he would have to be better than exceptional, because all the famous wizards and withes, such as Merlin or Morgan le Fay, were exceptional, but none of them managed to live longer than 300 years (I know Flamel and his wife were aged more than that, but let's say that Riddle doesn't know about them yet). 

Tom frowned at the thought. It would be easier, if the books on those horcruxes were where they were supposed to be. Holding onto his original plan, he headed straight to the corner of the dueling platform, where Minerva Mcgonagall was already standing, practicing her hand twirl.

"Hello, Minerva, how are you today?" he asked politely his classmate.

Minerva stopped her practice, lowering the wand, and raised her eyebrow suspiciously: "What is it, Riddle?"

The tone she utilized every time they talked was like an exact parallel to their relationship- cold and formal. The always sweet and helpful 7th year Head Girl never really warmed up to him. Due to their age difference and her busy schedule two weren't even expected to be friends or create some strong bond, but even the minimal information exchange they have done was more than stand-offish. Maybe it was because she, as one of very few, could see through his innocent mask down to his empty soul, or maybe and in Tom's mind more likely, her visions were poisoned by the old fool Dumbledore, who decided to take the little half-blooded witch underneath his protective wings. And as every good girl, Mcgonagall obeyed transfiguration teacher's every command and followed every suggestion.

Tom had to pick his words wisely: "I am working on our Runes essay for Rodhnick, and I would like to read _Mystical Hieroglyphs, _but it wasn't in the library and as you and Mr. Lukegrass are the only ones allowed to check-out books from the Restricted Section, I would like to ask if you have it and whether it would be possible for me to borrow it for just a couple minutes. I'd be grateful. " Tom used a random book's name he knew was available only in RS, because mentioning even the slightest interest in any sort of darker magic to the nosy witch would be like running to Dumbledore himself.

"No, I do not. Try Norris or Mrs. Rodhnick. " she stated simply and turned her attention back to her practice.

"Not even the second part or at least _Runes of Ancient Mage_?" persisted Tom- again using a random book.

Minerva frowned and he could tell she is resisting rolling her eyes in annoyance: "No, I do not. Actually, I do not have ANY book from RS!" She stated firmly, trying to get rid of Riddle as soon as possible, and also unknowingly giving him just the information he needed.

"Well, thank you anyway. I shall try the Head Boy, then." Tom forced a polite smile, gave the older student a small bow as was custom and joined other Slytherins, who've gathered in far back of the classroom.

Soon after, Slughorn, who was this year's dueling instructor, walked in with the new girl, Serena Durand, in his heals. He laughed merrily at something she said and waved his hand lightly disregarding her statement, leaving the young girl looking quite puzzled.

Maybe she wasn't so good after all, thought Tom. She probably worried about fighting male students just like other girls and was trying to appeal to Slughorn to let her skip, or at least set her with easier oponents. Females never lasted in this class- usually running out after the first duel with tear stained cheeks- leaving Minerva Mcgonagall to be the only girl in this course. At least until now. The French witch didn't seem to notice the fact though. She stood calmly near the platform, waiting for professor to start the class.

"So, who will volunteer today?" asked Sloghorn with a huge smile, searching through the mass for any raised hands. Normally, at least one or two students would step up and be rewarded 5 points for going willingly, but that wasn't the case today. Not a single person moved or showed any intention to do so. Tom lazily raised his hand just to be immediately pulled out of the crowd by the tubby instructor.

Horace petted young's back and said: "Tom, ma' boy! It's pleasure to have my best student at hand!" Then he turned back to the student body and asked again for the second volunteer, but yet again no body spoke. His eyes fell on the French : "Miss Durand, you are new here and my colleagues tell me you excel at everything you touch... Would you like to try your abilities against Tom? I'm sure he will go easy on you." Slughorn winked at her and laughed at his own private joke, pressing the said boy closer to his side.

Serena didn't look too entertained. She glanced at Tom and swallowed: "Eh.." she struggled: "I would prefer not to." And as soon as she said the classroom broke into a fit of giggles and snorts; even Tom couldn't stop a smug smile from creeping up his face. She was scared to fight him! And he was almost worried that she could be a concurrence. Obviously, he was wrong. She paled and looked confusedly around her laughing classmates. Tom had to close his eyes so he doesn't start laughing at the obvious discomfort of the new girl.

"Ok, I'll do it!" exclaimed the girl after a second of silence. Tom was undoubtedly surprised at the girl's behavior, but at the same time he wanted to learn how much exactly she knew of magic. She wouldn't have be selected TA, if she was unintelligent or untalented. Tom, who was already up on the knee-high platform, smiled politely and stretched his hand out to offer her help getting up there. The curly haired witch took a deep breath to calm her nerves, snapped her fingers and her wand slit out of her forearm wand holder right into her open palm. Then she tapped it twice on the top of her thick hair bun and almost everybody gasped at what followed. Her long layered Slytherin school robes turned into a simple pair of torn jeans and light gray worn hoodie. Tom watched amazed, just as others, the highly inappropriate clothing. No girls wore pants, ever. Minerva, the only other girl in the classroom, covered her mouth scandalized and the male audience just openly stared with their jaws hanging low, whispering 'wow's. But Serena didn't seem to mind. Her eyes were concentrated only on Tom. Their hands connected, and he pulled her up next to him. As soon as she regained her balance to stand on her own, she jerked her hand out of his like it was burned and took a couple hurried steps away from him.

Professor Slughorn was the first one to come out of the shock and laughed: "Alright! Alright! Let's begin then. Miss Durand, I believe you know all the rules already. Just remember, we are only trying to disarm the opponent, not kill, so be careful and show me your best! Good luck!"

Young Voldemort reached into his pocked for his own wand and turned towards the new witch. She bowed and he copied her movements to let the duel begin.

"Expeliarmus." The disarming curse sped furiously towards Tom's opponent. It wasn't strong one, but it was perfectly aimed. It was just a foot away from reaching her and she didn't make any attempt to put up a shielding charm. Tom was now sure of his easy-come victory,until Serena simply stepped aside like she was dodging a pedestrian on the same side of sidewalk, causing the spell to miss her by good ten inches. Astonished Voldemort decided it was time to raise the bar and threw couple disarming spells and even one stunner at her, but the young witch dodges every single one with the precision of an auror. In the background he heard professor Slughorn cheering Serena on to 'finally' use some magic, but he was too concentrated on his choice of the next step to pay any attention to him. Then he got a great idea- with the use of basic transfiguration charm he turned the old-fashioned watch on his wrist into a small metal dagger and flung it forward in an incredible speed, so Serena had no chance to jump away. The sharp weapon whooshed past her, ripping the thin material of her gray sleeve close to the elbow and following its straight path until it hit the wall, and crashed down with quiet jingle. Serena's eyes widened in fear as she checked her arm for any injury, but when she didn't find any she turned back to him with the frown. Tom watched her silently whip her dark brown wand in a, for him, unfamiliar manner till a small orange spark left its end, quickly gaining speed and size. When he finally casted an armoring charm, the tiny flame has already transformed into a gigantic fire ball and Tom's shield could barely hold it back.

A small part of vicious flames passed through the pale mist of the shielding charm, stinging Tom's right cheek and burning his shiny hair to the dark ashy fuzz. He gasped in pain as the spell wore off, leaving the naked bleeding flesh exposed to the cold air of the castle and drops of salty sweat running down his forehead straight into the open wound. The corners of Serena's mouth shot up a bit turning her frown into an insecure smile and Tom's eyes burned with anger. How could he let this happen? Dark thoughts began to cloud his mind with possible dark curses he could use to make this little bitch suffer and almost perfect spell came to his mind.

"Laitus Nomurus" he whispered.

This spell was power-draining, but very effective and for a dark spell practically untraceable. He himself shifted the base magic of the Cruciatus curse, to manipulate its visibility, style, and impact strength without changing its effects.

Serena gasped for breath, letting her wand drop onto the floor and following shortly after hitting her knees and elbows on the wooden podium. He could tell she felt every last bit of it. Her ribcage moved in faster pace, and hands were shaking. Tom wished to kill her, to make her hurt…

Suddenly he felt a strong pressure closing around his neck like if somebody took a chocking dog collar and dragged him by it backwards. With his free hand he reached for his throat, immediately recognizing the invisible binding straps usually created by Silarius spell- one of the darkest jinx outside of the Unforgivable.

His eyes shot to the witch on the floor before him, still holding on all four. One of her hands was stretched before her, palm up, clutched in a fist-like shape.

Due to the oxygen loss it took him a second to realize it was her casting the spell- wordless and wandless!

His vision started to close in and the last thing he could see before passing out, was the pair of chocolate orbs looking at him with pure defiance.

To be continued...

So review and comment :) and happy new year!


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